Plank Competition
I have spent a lot of my time on my Shire Woodworking Club plank entry; but did manage to finish it on time.
See separate post regarding the making of the train set below:
Pen Sales
Sold a pen out on eBay out of the blue; I had forgot that I had posted pens for sale here and had a moment of panic that I had already sold or given away the pen. Luckily I still had it available.
Decided to sell the item on Etsy to myself instead of removing the listing; do not self review as that is a bit too much!
Decided to add all the other items that are on my Etsy store onto eBay as well – takes quite a while I found.
Used the eBay Fast and Free status but I think that my prices need to be reviewed!
Had an offer for two pens (one pen x2 even though stated 1 only available) at a significantly reduced price so had to decline it.
Had a rush order through Etsy where they needed it delivered to Perth (other side of Australia from me) so had to use express post to get there in two days. Wasn’t able to add this shipping option as rushed at work so said to use standard option and leave a review instead of additional charges. Wasn’t much more as didn’t need a padded bag – she didn’t leave a review though!
Pen Making
Managed to get a couple of hours turning the other week and was quite pleased with the results.
Only used 5 coats of super glue on each but seemed to come out okay.
Tried my new silicone holders and was quite impressed as no marks on the ends from the spacers.
Had no idea what the timber was that I used for the bullet pens so decided to ask the question to the Woodworkers in Australia Facebook group.
Initially posted this photo and had quick responses saying they think it is Kwila.
Then someone asked to see the ends as apparently Kwila has distinctive “tubes” in the timber; this is quite noticeable in the photo below
Interestingly enough I then had someone say it was Tiger Myrtle which sounds familiar as I don’t remember ever having any Kwila around. Decided to go with Tiger Myrtle even though not 100% sure.
Also asked two pen making groups on facebook to help identify this rollerball pen kit I found while organising my stock.
Apparently a JR Gent type pen so then found this on Timberbits .
Haven’t tried turning a rollerball or fountain pen yet but intend to in the near future; I have 5 kits.
Not much stock at present; need to get turning!
Purchases
I read a review by Chris Schwarz on Popular Woodworking magazine blog site.
‘I don’t care for gizmos, jigs and silly accessories. So even though I spend a fair amount of time on the lathe, I resisted purchasing the Galbert Caliper for many years.
In its place, I used go/no-go gauges, box wrenches and traditional turning calipers (which are the worst). But while at Handworks this year, I broke down and gave Peter $60 for a Galbert Caliper. Today I put it to use turning some tenons that have to be bang-on for a stool.
After five minutes of using the tool, I realized that I was a pigheaded fool for waiting so long to buy this caliper.
What does the Galbert Caliper do? It shows you the exact diameter of your turning with no need to stop the lathe. You hold the caliper against the spinning work and use a parting tool to cut the tenon. When the caliper says you have reached your target diameter, you stop cutting.
The Galbert Caliper slashed the time it took to turn the tenons for the stool by more than half. A lot more. And as I sell these stools and chairs, the caliper is going to pay for itself after just a few projects.”
So I bought one!